Play 12-2024 1 part

Game over! But a high score? PL AY’s final issue is here, having carried the lineage of Official PlayStation Magazine, PSM, and Play for ward from the ’90s to the present

We all love to play – but the unfortunate truth is that at some point all games must come to an end, whether it’s because you got squashed by a rolling boulder, threw the controller down in frustration, or simply hit credits That time has now come for PLAY as well.

We managed to make it to #46 (so close to #50!), though anyone who remembers our rebrand from O cial PlayStation Magazine to PLAY back in 2021, from o cial to uno cial, will know the legacy stretches back much further than just those numbers Future Publishing’s history of making PlayStation mags began with the launch of PlayStation itself, with O cial PlayStation Magazine kicking it all o in 1 5 With demo discs aplenty, it was simply a must-buy for any PS1 owner, spotlighting heavy hitters like Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, and Silent Hill alongside gems like PaRappa The Rapper, with stunning bespoke renders, sketches, and comic-book-style art pieces

All the while, rival publisher Paragon Publishing (later bought out by Highbury, which eventually sold its games titles to Imagine Publishing) had its own uno cial PlayStation magazine: Play A stalwart title in its own right, it covered PS1 from 1 5 all the way through to its nal issue, #2 , in the PS4 generation, after going digital-only in 2016 But in that time they went from friendly enemies to friendly friends, Play joining the Future portfolio for its nal few years

OFFICIAL TWO

That original incarnation of O cial PlayStation Magazine ran until 2004, focussed solely on PS1 – a true single-format mag O cial PlayStation 2 Magazine launched in 2000, the two mags’ runs overlapping for several years With a modern

design to match PS2’s slick, futuristic edge, OPS2 would become known for its exclusive deep dives and chunky DVD-box-style demo and trailer discs

Bridging the gap was PSM2, Future’s uno cial PlayStation mag, which launched slightly before OPS2 The lack of a licence lent it an anarchic edge, and it took advantage of that, pursuing di erent stories to its sibling Back then, loads of games would come out in Japan far ahead of Englishlanguage launches, and import coverage was vital to PSM2’s identity

A similar relationship followed the launch of PlayStation 3, with PSM2 becoming PSM3, a PS3 mag, in 2006, but retaining its numbering OPS2 lasted until 2008, though, as with the previous generation hop, it crossed over with the o cial PS3 mag, rebranded as the more generational agnostic PlayStation: The O cial Magazine (technically shortened to POM, though for many the OPM moniker stuck) Higher-res artwork was becoming standard, meaning the chunky OPS2 banner was swapped for a sleeker one, leaving room on the cover for huge, striking images The new name meant that this numbering of the magazine stuck all the way until 2021 and OPM #18

And then there was PLAY! A lot of people who have worked on PLAY also worked on PSM, across the likes of PSM2 and PSM3 But did you know the connection goes even deeper? For the 2021 rebrand, the plan was to assume the PSM mantle, before a last-minute

pivot was necessary Internally, our product codes are still labelled PSM as a result (A peek behind the curtain: you are currently reading PSM46 feat thanks indd ) In e ect, this means every issue of PLAY has been secretly moonlighting as PSM as well It’s why I’ve always considered this version of the magazine a combo of the legacies of O cial PlayStation Magazine, PSM, and Play

With the brand change, a lot of people assumed our work ow changed too As I’ve always told them: it really didn’t! Our relationship with Sony has remained much the same from an editorial point of view as it was from my time on OPM Carrying over the late-in-life redesign of OPM, we’ve tried to become slicker to embrace the higher-resolution images available, but all while writing about games with all the passion, energy, and silliness we could muster

And it’s a legacy I believe will carry on – everyone who’s read any of these magazines carries a piece with them Sentimental? Well, we wouldn’t be gamers if we didn’t believe in extra lives! It wouldn’t have been PLAY without the teams that produced the PlayStation mags from the ’ 0s to the present, shaping copy, making beautiful covers, and distilling wild gaming marathons down into readable sentences; the fantastic contributing writers who have added their unique perspectives; and the readers who kept on turning the page Enjoy a look back at our high scores and leaderboards – and keep playing!

Oscar Taylor-Kent EDITOR

GAME OF ALL TIME Oddwor ld: A be’s E xoddus FIRST ISSUE OPM #149

and thanks for ing

THANKS FOR PL AYING

Jess Kinghorn GAMES EDITOR

GAME OF ALL TIME Shadow Hearts FIRST ISSUE OPM #142

Ah, I’ve never been good with endings – my backlog is testament to it – so, let me start at the beginning Two days into my sta writer job on OPM, I got dumped by text But from there, my life has only improved; as the saying goes, ‘Boys come and go but writing about games is forever ’ OPM and PLAY have given me opportunities I never would have enjoyed otherwise Besides the experience of honing my craft among a team of print media veterans, highlights include presenting God Of War with the PlayStation Game Of The Year award at 2018’s Golden Joysticks, trekking to the nal E3 in 201 , visiting Remedy Entertainment in Finland not once but twice, nally touching down in Tokyo more recently, and, of course, being in the room for Larian’s last panel from hell as Astarion rode that bear and the world looked on agape

As gaming becomes ever more expensive, and online games journalism is increasingly crowded by ads, at the mercy of changing algorithms, or besieged by toxicity, I’m sad to see another print publication shepherded out of the conversation Games mags have always o ered an important vector for connection; just for starters, my mum studies every issue and keeps a list of games she’d like us to play next time I lug the PS5 home And as a physical object you can hold in your hands, mags go a long way to explaining what I do to my gran (who often tells me, “I hadn’t a clue what you were talking about, but I liked how you said it ”) But even before becoming part of the team, OPM was there to tell me what was what when I couldn’t a ord the latest console or the hottest release

My story doesn’t end here, but I’m still sad to close the book on PLAY My hope is this isn’t the tail end of a long goodbye for games mags, so much as a ‘see you later ’ Let’s PLAY again sometime, okay?

Reviews by the numbers

The final scores?

Reviews published, or thereabouts, from the first issue of the final OPM rebrand to the closure of PLAY. Try not to think about how many hours that all took to play!

1/10s scored, including The Quiet Man, Ride To Hell: Retribution, and *shudder* Test Yourself Psychology

Games have scored 10/10 from 2007 to present, from Final Fantasy XII all the way to Astro Bot [Spoilers! – ed]

Words in our longest review ever: The Last Of Us Part II, narrowly beating our Metal Gear Solid V one at 3,721 words Those were written by current editor Oscar Taylor-Kent and then-news ed David Meikleham respectively

Baldur’s Gate 3

Baldur s Gate 3 is a glorious lightning strike, pairing talent with timing for not just a worthy successor to the series’ crown, but something truly special in its own right ” Jess Kinghorn, 10/10 (PLAY #33, December 2023)

Times 10/10 has been awarded to more than one game in a single issue: MLB 10 and Burnout Paradise Complete in OPM #44; MLB 11 and Portal 2 in OPM #58; Uncharted 3 and Batman Arkham City in OPM #64; Mass Effect 3 and Journey in OPM #69; and MLB 12 and Hungry Giraffe in OPM #70.

Reviews for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim! We loved the PS4 Special Edition the most, awarding it 9/10.

Miriam McDonald OPER

ATIONS EDITOR

GAME OF ALL TIME The Witcher III: Wild Hunt FIRST ISSUE PlayStation Max, some time in 2002

Over [redacted] years I’ve worked for magazines covering all sorts of subjects, from photography to knitting, science ction to horror But I’ve done more games mags than anything else, and games is the only subject I’ve ever returned to, to work on OPM in its nal incarnation Games magazines are, without doubt, the hardest

You have to be prepared to pull your weight in a team and perhaps lose all your evenings for a week, or give up whole weekends to get the magazine to press So much of what we do is done at the very last minute, dependent upon when studios can get us code or artwork, or a writer can go to see the latest build of a game I remember when Persona 5 arrived in the o ce – it was only a few days before we went to press and Jen Simpkins barely slept to make sure she’d played the whole thing before doing her review What’s more, you – yes, you reading this! – know your stu too, you love games every bit as much as we do, and you’re not afraid to tell us when you think we’ve got it wrong You make us better All that passion and immediacy makes working on games magazines uniquely rewarding

Another really rewarding thing about working in games magazines is working alongside the very best designers, editors, and writers in any genre You and I are spoiled to read their work And the beauty of print is that we’ve been able to allow them to ex their talents, without chasing clicks or prioritising SEO I’m not going to name names here because I’ll miss someone out, but if you ever spot me in a pub, I’ll sing their praises to you

Print will always be my passion, and I’ll still be working for PLAY’s sister magazine, Edge (look for the really pretty covers in your local newsagent) but PLAY, and its people, will always be a career highlight for me

Reader radar

Some of PL AY’s regular readers sound off on what they still love about print mags

“With news being a lesser priority, I like that they have space for really in-depth interviews/features, something about sitting down to ick through a mag that makes reading them more engaging than scrolling on a web page?”

@ItsMartinShore

“I work on Amiga Addict & Pixel Addict, both print mags It is hard work Obviously we will never be rst with news but will always aim for great features, historical look backs and interviews ”

@PdmonPaul

“That its an actual thing not just a website + if you have a magazine you read it all to nd out about games in your case) you might not know On a website you are more likely to just click on the stories you want. Physical will always be better anyone that disagrees is wrong.”

@Byronb 86

“Tactile experience, easily uid readability, quality articles, fast access to variety of content, pleasing design aesthetic, archival potential, a sense of product value Digital just can’t compete with a good mag!”

@THellhole

“Nothing like turning a page, as opposed to always scrolling. Especially a gamer magazine Need that printed copy sitting on my desk ”

@AlchemicMenace

“The work, dedication,and most importantly, passion ” @6042e51ce671487

“How amazing a well-designed spread can look. Take that internet!”

@RetroGamer Daz [A cheeky plug for our friends at Retro Gamer magazine – ed]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim –Dragonborn

A meaty, if long overdue, slice of additional adventuring to finally get stuck into ” 8/10, Emma Davies (OPM #82, April 2013)

THANKS FOR PL AYING

Milford Coppock MANAGING ART EDITOR

GAME OF ALL TIME Ridge Racer FIRST ISSUE OPM1 #19, 1997

The O cial PlayStation 1 Magazine was the reason I moved down to Bath from Manchester 27 (!) years ago, and I’ve been designing videogame magazines ever since OPM1, PSM2, PSM3, NGC, Xbox World, Nintendo Gamer, O cial PlayStation (PS3, PS4, and PS5 iterations), Edge, and PLAY The last 2 years of my life has all been about videogame coverage in print Each year neatly subdivided into 13 1 -working-day issue sized chunks Past team mates were amazed I used to be able to remember a speci c issue that tied in to a global event, which might sound odd, but that’s how my time was divided June? That’s the annual Hot 50! December? Ah, the yearly look ahead issue!

I’ve always been a fan of gaming, going right the way back to playing Jetpac on the ZX Spectrum, and I’m pretty sure I always will be The same can be said for physical media I’ve collected every copy of PLAY’s sister magazine Edge, my games collection continues to grow, and my ever-expanding record collection threatens to spill out of my o ce and take over other parts of the house Physical media requires e ort to appreciate, even if that’s just turning a record over or icking through the mag you’ve walked to the newsagent to pick up, and the internet just can’t compete with a really nicely designed feature or issue There’s also something to be said for not having everything on demand all the time and the anticipation of the next issue landing on your doorstep

I’m really going to miss Team PLAY, what we produce every month, and games mags in general, so next time you’re out shopping, get that record, pick up that boxed game, or buy the latest copy of Edge The teams behind them appreciate it more than you know Bye for now

PS5 of the best

A look back at the most popular covers of the PS5 generation

Sony

for a

OPM’s final year

Surprising nobody, the launch of PS5 was a huge event – and so too was our launch special! Right before we changed titles, OPM #182 180-page special was the new console owner bible!

SWORDS! Newsstand covers featuring them – counting unsheathed only, and a lightsaber (they’re laser swords), and discounting a few knives % %

Of covers mention Final Fantasy Four of those have properly featured each new game in the series Hey, we know what you like!

Ridge Racer

couldn’t have wished

more elegant standard-bearer for its machine ” 9/10, (OPM #1, November 1995) [NB: uncredited]

2021

With an early look at Elden Ring, and a striking close-up of the Tarnished from the cover, PLAY #4 was a landmark one for the mag, delivering on the hype from Dark Souls fans

2023

Few games scream ‘PlayStation!’ as much as Final Fantasy VII PLAY #34’s Rebirth cover ignited the love of fans with a Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth triple threat

2022

PLAY #16 featured an assortment of well-known superheroes from Marvel s Midnight Suns A fantastic game, we had the chance to dig deep from early on, as it led that year ’ s Hot 50 special

Leaderboards

Some of the other voices who have guided the PlayStation mags along the way!

GUNS! Featured in the main cover art We’re just that well balanced Though we are discounting more than a few cover flashes of violence

2024

How often do you see Xbox on the cover of a PlayStation mag? PLAY #39 featured the gorgeous Hi-Fi Rush and highlighted Xbox s first wave of cross-gen games

Included a supplement That includes three calendars, a PS5 guide, and deep dives into the history of Grand Theft Auto, Warframe, and Final Fantasy XIV % % % %

Of covers have featured a shiny foil, soft-touch varnish, and spot UV combination! A few more came in paper wallets Talk about collectible!

Of covers feature Horizon s Aloy We can t get enough of the high-tech huntress! Rest in peace, potential Lego Horizon cover

Dan Dawkins

CONTENT DIRECTOR AT FUTURE FOR GAMES VIDEO AND DIGITAL EVENTS, PREVIOUSLY PSM2/3 EDITOR AND DEPUT Y EDITOR

Way back in 2012, I wrote about 1,500 deeply heartfelt words about the closure of PSM3 magazine, and the end of independent gaming magazines. As tempting as it is to copy + paste those sentiments and absurd anecdotes (yes, we really did get own to the top of a glacier for a new Pro Evolution Soccer game, and, no, I don’t regret giving GTA: San Andreas a 99% review score), it’s a moment to re ect on what we lose from the impending dusk for independent gaming magazines. Indie print’s strengths were a sense of team, personality, a fusion of design and editorial intent, and considered state-of-the-nation opinion pieces divorced from the online news cycle A sense of authorship, and context, that is drowned out in the daily outrage of social media and ceaseless content creation A lot of what is great about gaming magazines has been atomised and recreated elsewhere – websites, blogs, TikTok memes, YouTube channels, ickstarter-led co ee table art books – but what we lose is a sense of coherence, and a lighthouse of editorial values free from algorithmic temptations, divorced from an attention economy that thrives on division The very best gaming magazines made you feel part of a club, and in a world of braying binary arguments that sense of sharing a camp re with strangers, with no wi- signal, will be sorely missed

Metal Gear Solid 2

State-of-the-art gaming with intelligence and soul A rare conjunction of vision, technical virtuosity and hardware You must own this game ” 10/10, Paul Fitzpatrick (OPS2 #17, February 2002)

THANKS FOR PL AYING

Matthew Pellett

PR & COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR AT SECRET

MODE, PREVIOUSLY OFFICIAL PL AYSTATION

MAGA ZINE EDITOR (2014-17)

My full time O cial PlayStation Magazine spell lasted precisely three years. I’d subscribed since OPM #1 and felt immense pressure to live up to what had come before, especially as I jumped straight into the editor’s chair (joining from GamesMaster) rather than working my way up the ranks like previous editors

Luckily, the mag I inherited from Ben [Wilson] was incredible, sporting a fresh redesign, and buoyed by the rise of PlayStation 4 I swear that 3am deadline nishes in cockroach-infested rooms at E3 took years o my life, as did a trip to Crystal Dynamics for the 20th Anniversary Of Tomb Raider special, for which I was in the air for longer than I was on the ground Highlights? Too many to list, but pulling together the 20th Anniversary of PlayStation double issue tops the lot, and was only possible because I was fortunate enough to work alongside some of the most talented people I’ve ever encountered in this industry

Special credit must go to Milf, who turned my awful stick gure drawings into superb cover designs, and Mim, who I’d known since I was a teenager sending in videotapes of gaming prowess to her old GameCube magazine, NGC PLAY, you were the best You will be dearly missed

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End

Naughty Dog s victory lap is a celebration of its past, present, and future, with clever pacing and thrilling set-pieces surpassing expectations ” 10/10, Ben Tyrer (OPM #123, June 2016)

Louise Blain

LOUISE BL AIN, BLUMHOUSE GAMES CREATIVE LEAD, PREVIOUSLY OPM STAFF WRITER AND CONTRIBUTOR

Saying that I have OPM to thank for a career in games might sound melodramatic, but it’s true The arrival of the magazine and demo disc in our household was a monthly highlight as my brother and I would feast on PS1 delights otherwise far out of pocket-money range MGS… Tony Hawk’s… Those Net Yaroze games that felt like addictive mini-masterpieces OPM was a shining portal of gaming discovery Fast forward to 2011 and getting to

“IT’S A N HONOUR TO H AV E H A D A SM A LL H A ND IN CELEBR ATING THE SHEER JOY OF A LL THINGS PL AYSTATION.”

be the one to write the words on the hallowed demo page was a surreal experience Most importantly though, over the years, OPM and then PLAY have always retained that same sense of discovery, all curated by passionate editors and pun-adoring writers who love games just as much as you do It’s an honour to have had a small hand in celebrating the sheer joy of all things PlayStation Here’s to the lifelong passions ignited by these very pages

Gravity Rush

Sharp characters and an utterly bonkers narrative combine with gorgeous visuals to create a wholly unique experience, and this is the thrilling and magical adventure that you and your Vita deserve ” 9/10, Louise Blain (OPM #72, July 2012)

Sam Roberts

UK PR MANAGER AT BETHESDA SOFT WORKS, PREVIOUSLY DEPUT Y EDITOR OF PL AY MAGA ZINE (2012-13)

The week PS3 launched here, in March 2007, I joined the old Play magazine. It wasn’t Sony’s nest moment – the console was too expensive and it didn’t initially have the games it needed to compete with Xbox. What drew me to the magazine, however, was the lineage of PlayStation mags from the PS1 and PS2 eras, where the attitude of the writing made them feel like this club you wanted to be a part of Play was always my personal favourite because the jokes were good Covering the PS3 era was fascinating, in retrospect, even if at the time I looked on longingly at the Xbox 360 mags The journey from Sony’s downturn to the real surge of excitement around PS4 was one of those great comeback stories in gaming – Play was always there to advocate for the platform, even at times when it was hard to summon enthusiasm for it The UK will be poorer for losing its last single-format games magazine On the internet, you simply can’t cultivate a similar passionate audience in the same way Hopefully if you’re reading this, you’re one of the people who treasured the walled garden of PlayStation delights that Play has curated over the years I did too

Ben Wilson

FREEL ANCE WRITER AND EDITOR, PREVIOUSLY OFFICIAL PL AYSTATION MAGA ZINE EDITOR (2009-14)

Looking back back on my ve years as editor of O cial PlayStation Magazine, they were the pinnacle of my career This wasn’t just a job, but a lifestyle Games like ncharted or GTA would arrive and we’d sit in the o ce long into the night, bathing in their brilliance

Trips took the team overseas to Japan or the States –what an honour it was to play Final Fantasy XIII at Square Enix HQ in Tokyo, then spend two days sampling karaoke bars and Akihabara Lunch breaks were spent arguing

“TRIPS TOOK THE TE A M OV ERSE AS – W H AT A N HONOUR IT WAS TO PL AY FIN A L FA NTASY XIII AT SQUA RE ENIX IN TOK YO.”

over Pro Evo, while Friday night pub trips would devolve into review score debates (I once got a PR lady sacked for giving her game 1 out of 10, which I remain guilty about to this day ) Our readers were the best We even had our own mini fan club, the Rocket Minions, who’d come to Bath to visit once a year It was an incredible time, and I’m so sad to see that era end

Killzone 2

Visually it s so far ahead of anything else out there it shatters your expectations This is a PS3 showing what it s truly capable of and delivering a landmark piece of explosive entertainment you can’t afford to miss ” 9/10, Leon Hurley (OPM #28, Feb 2009)

MLB 11: The Show Lord knows how long the San Diego boys can continue trumping themselves year after year, but for now their golden touch shows no sign of fading ” 10/10, Ben Wilson (OPM #58, June 2011)

THANKS FOR PL AYING

Rachel Watts

THINK Y GAMES EDITOR AND FREEL ANCE ICON, FORMER PL AY STAFF WRITER

Back in 2022 I worked for PLAY magazine as sta writer, and I’ve since written for the magazine as a freelancer Writing for PLAY has been – without a doubt – a highlight of my career. I was so proud to work for a magazine with such invaluable criticism, wit, and heart, and also have the pleasure to collaborate with an incredibly talented team.

One of the reasons I admire PLAY is that it not only gave critical insight into PlayStation’s juggernaut games but championed smaller titles and indie games This also includes its pool of writers PLAY always gave space to new talent entering an intimidating industry and reading words from new voices is one of the many things that I will miss I am so grateful I had the opportunity to contribute to PLAY and I’m heartbroken by the shutdown of the magazine I’m sure readers, supporters,

“PL AY NOT ONLY GAV E CRITICA L INSIGHT INTO PL AYSTATIONS JUGGERN AUT GA MES BUT CH A MPIONED SM A LLER TITLES.”

and everyone who took the time to read will share this sentiment with me: PLAY carved its own space within a busy industry and its immensely hard-working and kind sta made a fantastic magazine that will be bitterly missed To Oscar, Jess, Mim, and Milford – thank you!

Dashiell Wood

HARDWARE WRITER AT TECHR ADAR, FORMER PL AY STAFF WRITER, BANANA FAN

As a fresh-faced almost-graduate I joined the magazine back in July 2022 and balanced it with working towards my university degree I might have missed my fair share of house parties (and a few lectures, shhh!) to write for the mag, but can you really blame me when it was such an exciting time for PlayStation? PS5 was still quite fresh on the market, with each new release giving us a glimpse at just what its powerful hardware could do

Still, the experience would not have been so much fun without the support of an incredible team who were more than happy to put up with my nonsense If you thought all the ‘sucking’ jokes in my Bloodhunt coverage were bad, you don’t even want to know what didn’t make it out of the editing room

Of course, no print publication would have been able to keep going quite this long without our brilliant community of readers, you among them If you ever dropped me a line about one of my pieces on Twitter (I’m not calling it ‘X’) or shared your love for the magazine on forums like ResetEra and Reddit, thank you It was seen and seriously appreciated I’m glad that you enjoyed reading our work in the mag just as much as we did writing it

Red Dead Redemption 2

No open world game makes you feel as physically present as Red Dead Redemption 2 ” 10/10, Oscar Taylor-Kent (OPM #156, Christmas 2018)

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Just like the super-satisfying weaponry, Rift Apart shoots on all cylinders to set a new bar for PS5 We’ve never had a game like this before ” 10/10, Oscar Taylor-Kent (PLAY #3, August 2021)

Ian Dean, former editor of Official PlayStation Magazine, PLAY, and so much more, gives a final look back across the years

While visiting a game studio recently I introduced myself as writing for a website

h-huh came the standard reply – then I mentioned I was once the editor of O cial PlayStation Magazine, and there were smiles all around. Magazines mean something to everybody, not least game developers who grew up reading them, appearing in them, and desperately wanting to be on the cover It means something

It’s a great shame then, that PLAY magazine is making its last issue This is a magazine I launched when OPM was nally closed by Sony and myself and the team worked long into the Covid-lockdowned hours to rebrand and relaunch It’s another notch on my CV but more importantly it’s one of the best magazine teams I worked with; Oscar, Jess, Mim, and Milf have been quietly putting together some of the nest, funniest and most engaging games coverage you’ve been reading

My time in magazines stretches way past PLAY and OPM I was the editor of many games magazines, including PlayStation World, original Play, and my rst Future title, O cial PSP Magazine (yes, the mad *blorp!*s thought that was a good idea) There were also the Xbox magazines, XBM and my own launch title X360 And it all began with the kids’ title Planet PlayStation way back in 1 8

Each magazine I’ve worked on has had its unique moments, and games magazines certainly changed over the years I remember my editor Dan Whitehead, on Planet PlayStation, slinging a CD (remember them?) on my desk scrawled with the word ‘Driver’; on the disc were three screenshots and a 50 word description “Write something fun,” I was told, and that was life in the ’ 0s

What connects every magazine I ever worked on was the team Each title was made by a dedicated, creative

working late into the night, but on P2

Magazine we had World Soccer:

Winning Eleven 5 running 24 for a ‘quick game’ between edits When working on the launch issue of X360 we had an early build of Project Gotham Racing 3 running continuously to reduce our stress levels When an issue ended it was straight to the pub to decompress, laugh, moan, complain, binge Guinness, and do it all again the next day

“E ACH ISSUE IS A SNAPSHOT, NOT JUST OF THE GA MES W E PL AY ED BUT THE LI V ES W E LI V ED.”

and usually eccentric collection of people who all loved videogames, but just as importantly were passionate about print It’s something websites don’t really achieve; no-one really has a connection to a Google-searched hot take, and you can’t pull out a box of IGNs and have a moment of re ection

When we weren’t tethered to a desk the press trip came calling and I’ve been privileged to travel the world meeting amazing people and experiencing fantastic events in the name of a PlayStation games preview; whether standing waist-deep in an Arctic snowdrift keeping warm over a BBQ to see a rally car skid past once every 30 minutes or visiting Naughty Dog to see an unknown new game called Uncharted, every week in print magazines was unique When the nal nail in print comes around, and we’re left with a void lled by interchangeable in uencers, overly excitable Vtubers, pick-me streamers, Twitch haters for clicks, and, well, the internet, life (as someone who loves videogames and has always been passionate about magazines) is going to feel smaller, less colourful, and just a bit sadder

Final Fantasy VII

“A compelling blend of complex storyline, stunning graphics and cerebral gameplay 10/10 (OPM #26, December 1997) [NB: uncredited]

Magazines are personal Each issue is a curated timepiece, a snapshot not just of the games we played or how they were made, but the lives we lived around those polygonal adventures (I can remember what I was doing when reading every issue of Your Sinclair ) Magazine teams have always brought gaming vividly to life, never taking themselves too seriously (Edge and Games™ aside) and have always been brutally, funnily honest about why they love or hate a new release

We also had fun lots of fun

Creating a new issue often meant

Unfortunately that future includes PLAY, the last title I ever edited, and it’s one that has meant a lot in recent years There are few jobs that enable you to end a month with a thing you’ve made, a physical artefact that everyone can enjoy, and no matter how much you, the reader, have enjoyed issues of PLAY of the these last few years, I guarantee the team love them more Keep this issue of PLAY safe, it’s the last one – just smile while you read it

Ian Dean

EDITOR, DIGITAL ART & 3D, CREATIVEBLOQ COM, FORMER OFFICIAL PL AYSTATION MAGA ZINE AND PL AY EDITOR

“THE

APPEARANCE OF AN ANGRY CAN OF SPAM

DECORATED BY A 12-YEAR-OLD.”

086 Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2

Regulars

018 In the mood for… metal

115 Next issue

Insider

014 PS5 Pro

Sony’s announced a souped-up version of its current console – but we ’ re wincing at the price

016 Hotel Barcelona

What happens when two Japanese legends join forces? We find out

Previews

022 Lost Records: Bloom & Rage –Tape 1

Rewinding to the 90s

026 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

028 Spine

032 Atomfall

033 .45 Parabellum Bloodhound

034 Crimson Desert

038 Slitterhead

039 Fantasian Neo Dimension

040 Cairn

042 Two Point Museum

044 Greedfall II: The Dying World

Features

046 Once bitten, thrice sneaky

Series producer Noriaki Okamura discusses making Metal Gear

Solid Delta: Snake Eater

052 Shock-a-block

Just in time for Halloween, we enter the creepy and kooky world of low-poly horror games

060 Not so silent

Developers who worked on the four most recent Silent Hills reveal what it took to keep the lights on

014

022 Ghost Of Yotei

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Tape 1

070 Late night with the devil Actor Andrew Wincott discusses bringing Baldur s Gate 3 s delightfully devilish Raphael to life

Reviews

080 Astro Bot Little robo, big adventure

084 Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown

086 Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

090 Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis – The Answer

091 Silent Hill 2

092 Caravan SandWitch

094 Ace Attorney Investigations Collection

096 Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster

097 Vampire Survivors

098 Hall of fame: PS5

100 Hall of fame: PS4

101 Hall of fame: PSVR2

RetroStation

104 Classic game: The Sims 2 (PSP)

106 Memory card: Dragon Age: Origins

107 Defending: GLaDOS

108 The Feature: Fire In The Hole

112 Plus points: Timesplitters 2

113 A brief history of endings

114 Parting shot: Dishonored 2

PS5 Pro to launch

PS5 architect Mark Cerny finally ‘revealed’ one of the worstkept secrets in gaming histor y – stick 7 Nov in your calendar

fter months of rumours, speculation, and Sony itself leaking an image of the design in the celebration artwork for the 30th anniversary of PlayStation (whoops), PlayStation 5 Pro has officially been announced Great news for pro gamers, less good news for your wallet But before we whine about that, let’s talk about the more fun numbers The console’s GPU will have 67% more Compute Units and 28% faster memory. What that gibberish

technobabble means is that you’ll get 45% faster rendering for your games

But you re not reading the final issue of Meaningless Numbers Magazine You want to know what all these impressivesounding double-digits will mean for your games Luckily, PS5 Pro is launching with a series of titles that will take advantage of its power These ‘enhanced with PS5 Pro titles include some that are expected but welcome, like both The Last Of Us games (it had almost been a week since Naughty Dog had released yet another version of

Part I, and we were starting to worry) There s a decent amount of third-party support, too, such as Dragon s Dogma 2, Alan Wake 2, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, and the forthcoming Assassin s Creed Shadows Mark Cerny, PS5 s lead architect and a man who probably won’t rest until he’s finally built a PlayStation capable of rendering the actual Matrix in 4000K, showed off some of these enhancements during a technical presentation We got to see more detailed crowds in the parade set-piece that opens Ratchet & Clank: A

Rift Apart, and Spider-Man 2 s Manhattan has never looked more gorgeous But Cerny s best pitch is that this could end the performance mode/graphics mode dilemma that’s plagued this generation

FATAL FRAMES

Many games now offer PS5 players the choice of shinier graphics in fidelity mode or a smoother, often higher framerate, performance mode that comes with a graphical dip It s maddening having to choose between the smoothest Spider-

1 Ghost Of Yotei is the sequel to Ghost Of Tsushima, starring a new hero about 350 years later It ll be the next big graphical showpiece

2 Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered aims to bring the

original game to the same visual fidelity” as Forbidden West Launching 31 Oct, you can upgrade for about a tenner A good test for your PS5 Pro? 3 Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart looked

fabulous before, but it s a visual feast in 4K Look at how lush Ratchet’s fur appears! 4 PS5 Pro isn’t radically different in looks from a base PS5, though we do like the natty go-faster stripes

consistent 60 frames (with some games even promising a ridiculous 120fps), all without having to compromise on graphical heft, suddenly makes that price tag seem a lot more reasonable Even so, £699 99 is no small investment Oh, and you ll have to fork over another £99 99 for a disc drive Also, would you like your new console to be able to stand up? That ll be £24 99 for a stand Yikes Why bother playing Payday 3 on PS5 Pro when the experience of simply buying one feels a lot like daylight robbery? But that steep

Mark Cerny probably won’t rest until he’s finally built a PlayStation capable of rendering the actual Matrix in 4000K.

Man swinging possible or seeing that game s set-pieces at their spectacular best According to Cerny, 75% of players opt for performance mode Makes sense (once you ve played something at 60fps it s hard to make the switch back) but PS5 Pro could make it a thing of the past The idea of getting to play our PS5 library at a

cost hasn t come from nowhere Anyone who’s ever given their PC a significant upgrade knows what it costs to get a jump in quality similar to what Sony has promised We can’t help but have flashbacks to the pricing announcement of PSV2 making us weep into our much cheaper PSVR headsets Then we tried

PSVR2 and realised where the money had gone OLED screens, eye-tracking, vastly superior graphics Sony simply wasn t interested in compromising on quality

PREMIUM RUSH

There s no doubt that PS5 Pro is a tougher sell than PS4 Pro was during PS4’s lifespan In a way, Sony is a victim of its own success Whereas PS4 had plenty of compromises that were crying out for a pro model to fix – The Witcher 3 s stuttery framerate comes to mind – PS5 plays most games like a dream Pro is clearly aimed more at the diehards, the graphics obsessives So far there are 13 confirmed games with PS5 Pro support, with Sony promising between 40 and 50 will be Pro-enhanced by the time the console is launched in November If you want to risk convincing yourself the upgrade is worth remortgaging your house for, look at Gran Turismo 5 Eye-shatteringly beautiful on PS5, it s now starting to look more realistic than actual driving on PS5 Pro That s a pretty irresistible pitch, no matter the price PS5 Pro is out on 7 November, and we’ll tell you more next iss oh yeah

Swer

y65

D E V A C C E S S

Club Ded

discusses Hotel Barcelona, his “accidental” collaboration with friend Suda51

Hotel Barcelona sounds like a dream indie collaboration: a 2D side-scrolling action title from the joint creative minds of Suda51 and Swery65. Although they’ve been friends for decades, the pair had never worked together prior to this, and a game about serial killers, parodying B-movie horror, is a match made in heaven for the pair

As you may guess from their respective catalogues of games, this is an eccentric duo, so it should come as no surprise that as we sit down with Swery65 to talk about the title s development the origin story for the game is similarly unusual Indeed, its entire existence can be traced to an off-the-cuff remark made during a No More Heroes talk show the pair attended in Tokyo in 2019

Ever since we first met and got to know each other the two of us have always wanted to collaborate together, but there s never been the opportunity to do so, explains Swery65 At a Travis Strikes Again talk event I participated in with Suda in 2019 he gave lip service to the crowd and said, Hey, we should do a collaboration!

The game will be Hotel Barcelona, I m announcing it today!

game, so we went away and started for real on the game from there

HOUSE OF HORRORS

The pair have very distinct styles; Swery65 is known for horror titles such as Deadly Premonition and The Missing (whose 2D side-scrolling horror action makes it the most obviously comparable to Hotel Barcelona), while Suda51 is famous for his action titles like No More Heroes In spite of their differences, however, blending their two styles within a single game was easier than it may at first appear

“Before those games I started my gaming career at SNK where I made a lot of arcade action games So when we got to working on this collaboration I somewhat returned to this action game

[We] have always wanted to collaborate together, but there’s never been the opportunity.

At the time, nothing of the game existed beyond the name and the random ideas the pair bounced back and forth in front of the event s audience Even though news reports enthusiastically reported on the possibility that the pair could work together, nothing had actually been decided at this time They d joked before the talk that they should surprise the audience, but they hadn’t discussed whether the game they ‘revealed would ever be anything more than a joke Things only got more serious a few months after the talk

“When I first heard the title I thought it sounded cool I wanted to see what shape this game would take, Swery65 continues A few months later, he was like, Why don t we do this idea for real? He came up with the base idea and character, and then we had a conversation where I said I wanted to come up with the design for this

1 Brave of the devs to make a stage riffing on Boss Baby 2 Phantoms can help 3 You ve a serial killer of your own on-side Or in-side

era of my career [ ] We wanted to make a game that captured a journey through the horror movie world of the 80s and 90s, where we could enter the subgenres of horror from that time like camp horror, slasher, restaurant horror, and so on

Once this basic concept was nailed down, the pair were able to develop things further One of the game s key attributes is its roguelike structure – you upgrade your skills through trial-and-error as you clear a branching selection of side-scrolling levels and bosses under strict time limits Which levels you clear on your journey to the boss depends upon on your skills and choices, and on subsequent attempts Slasher Phantoms, ghosts replicating the

moves you took leading up to your last death, will repeat your prior runs inputs, attacking enemies as they go

The violence and difficulty levels are appropriate to the horror movie-inspired worlds, while the devs are finding a balance between engaging mechanics, action, and characters that appeal to broad audiences Your own character is Justine, a police officer possessed by a serial killer named Doctor Carnival, who at times manipulates you And you look incredibly cool

“The number of games where the protagonist is police is small, that s why I wanted to create someone like Justine,” explains Swery65 of her initial design Also, the marshal badge is cool, so I gave her an eyepatch to match that energy!”

The result is a game that feels like a homecoming for everyone involved Friends working together, a return to Swery65 s action roots, a tribute to horror cinema Yet it nonetheless feels and looks fresh It may have started as the result of an off-the-cuff remark during a talk, but the resulting game is no joke: this has the potential to be murderous fun

The game is being developed by Swery65’s White Owls; release date TBC

Jaws gets a tip of the sailor s cap in Zillion, the robo-shark killer

Swery65 was on hand, running his own demo booth at BitSummit Talk about hands-on!

Metal IN THE MOOD FOR…

It’s dangerous to go alone; take these face-melting riffs

1 CALL OF DUTY ZOMBIES

We all remember finding our first hidden track in COD Zombies There’s a real satisfaction in realising you ’ ve forgotten to put any music on and suddenly being invigorated by a surprise hit of apocalyptic female vocals and face-melting riffs

2 DOOM

From the original Doom s 8-bit MIDI soundtrack to the fleshy riffs of Doom Eternal and beyond, the Doom series has wielded one of the most iconic metal OST’s to ever grace gaming Ironically, none are from the doom metal genre – each game touts a corpse-grinding flourish of instrumental speed metal

3 METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE

Electronic, melodic metal interspersed with dubstepstyle segments and intense guitar solos, this game ’ s soundtrack is a fascinating fusion of genres Written for the game, each song s lyrics reveal intricate secrets about the boss you re fighting because, uh, Kojima

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

It doesn’t have a metal OST, but the

4 SPLATTERHOUSE

The Splatterhouse OST goes hard with a steadily tramping BPM, speedy intersections, apocalyptic singing, and spooky, swinging, carnivalstyle riffs As for the bonus tracks, expect everything from groove, sludge, and thrash to a mix of chuggy, fuzz-fuelled beer and stoner metal

5

HADES

The chuggy, Ancient-Greekinspired melodic riffs of Hades are the least Supergiant Games could do to get us through intense battle segments with bloodthirsty gods Hades’ tracks are fuzzy, groovy, and progressive it s hyped-up apocalyptic stoner metal lit with fire stolen from the gods themselves

6 TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER

This series has it all, from classic rock, heavy metal, and punk to groovy surf rock, all the way to nu metal and rap These games have consistently captured skate culture over the generations, through a musical cornucopia that speaks volumes to any skate-inclined metalhead

7 BRÜTAL LEGEND

An unapologetically filthy track list spanning eras of metal It has everything from death and black metal to gothic and industrial, power metal, and a lovely bit of prog There’s even some Viking and pirate metal to round it out with a bit of theatrics

8 KILLING FLOOR 2

Killing Floor s soundtrack is a metalcore medley of death growls, blast beats, and breakdowns from an unexpectedly Christian lineup Just what you need when violently dispatching hoards of godless bio-mutants It’s grindy, fast, and nasty stuff for the holiest of metalheads to scream along to as they purify the world

9 METAL: HELLSINGER

Featuring a glorious mess of ’90s and ’00s metalcore, melodic death metal, nu metal, and so much more, Metal: Hellsinger has one of the most comprehensive and eclectic metal soundtracks for the Millennial generation It even features Gorillaz, because who doesn t like a good bop to Feel Good Inc?

“AN

PRE VIEW

“IN 1995, SWANN WILL FIND HER CROWD, A GIRL GANG OF WHAT SEEM TO BE LIFE-LONG BESTIES.“

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage –Tape 1

Hitting play on Don’t Nod’s coming-of-age tale

Stepping into teenager Swann Holloway’s bedroom feels like heading home Beyond the mismatched bedding and the cat, there’s no mistaking which decade we’ve stepped into. VHS cases scattered around, shelves stacked with supernatural horror books, and what looks a bit like a shrine to Dana Scully: it’s a summoning circle for the teen years we forgot

Swann will be leaving this all behind sooner than she likes, as her family is set to move away from her hometown of Velvet Cove at the end of the summer We hear her mother calling from downstairs, but Swann would much rather hit the trails with her camcorder than help with packing and confront this end of an era

zooming in and out, while pressing u is hitting record Pink, boxy UI clues you into where to point your lens, and intermittent dialogue choices let you issue a bit of light direction – not that our lead talent takes any of it on board

FAST FORWARD

was due out in 2024, but Don t Nod shifted the release after Life Is Strange: Double Exposure was announced

But it’s not all nostalgic VHS scanlines and delightfully analogue hardware; there’s something darker at the edges of this idyllic summer In 1995, Swann will nally nd her crowd, a girl gang of what seem to be life-long besties, only for something to go down that compels them all to never speak to each other again until circumstance demands it in 2022

As her footage backup completes, we learn how to capture the summer of ’95 Wandering around in third-person, a tap of o puts you into a rst-person view as you peer through the view nder of Swann’s camcorder The star of our home video? The family’s orange moggy, Pumpkin, lounging in a sunbeam i and p allow you to frame your shot by

Our hands-on skips around in time, with a grown-up Swann o ering hindsight through narration and in playable scenes Snippets of 2022 o er a rst-person catch up between Swann and Autumn, brought together by a mysterious package Unwilling to open it before the rest of the former squad arrives, they get reacquainted in the meantime, bonding over horror lms Then a phone call leaves Autumn ustered She explains she’s a social worker now, and that she’s anxious

1

about how the contents of this package could derail her life’s calling Back in the summer of 1995, we’re blissfully unaware of what lies ahead

Invited to Nora’s garage for band practice, Swann drinks in the scene in as the host and a teenaged Autumn tune up In the moment Swann marvels at the apparent freedom Nora enjoys, but in 2022 Swann and Autumn clearly see the lonely girl for who she is

Swann asks what the band’s name is “The Spew!” Nora bursts out, explaining it was inspired by an eventful trip to the carnival Autumn rejects the name, and Nora gets defensive We can weigh in, and when we side with Autumn, Nora sounds like she might cry This is where the nal member of the crew, Kat, comes in Nora challenges the quiet girl to come up with a better band name Kat says she’s got it: “Bloom & Rage ”

The same name on that mysterious package in 2022

FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC

The girls hit the forest trail to shoot a music video, Swann directing Creative inspiration strikes when Swann spies a motorcycle nature is attempting to reclaim Announcing she wants to shoot a romantic scene, Nora and Kat are

pushed into frame Nora is way into it, while Kat does not know where to look

After a peck on the cheek cuts the tension, we have the choice either to walk ahead with Nora or Autumn, or to wait with Kat We check in with Kat, and she doesn’t know how to feel about smooching her bestie – but not for the reasons you might think, instead bemoaning being ‘awkward ’ Bless

After sharing a ‘friends forever’ moment at a lookout point, we’re back at Nora’s garage the next day to review Swann’s footage What the girls watch is our footage, all the snippets we’ve captured during our hands-on edited together Nora asks who we think was the best actress Saying we think she is grows our bond – then the lights go out

Nora clings to Kat as purple light dances over the girls’ faces The VCR skips around on its own, showing scenes we have no memory of recording but we won’t be able to press play on the rest of this mystery until next year

I

The 90s setting, a coming-of-age tale, a sweet touch of teen romance and an intriguing myster y – it’s fair to say we’ll be keen to play with this one when it s released, split into t wo par ts, nex t year

1 “Y’all better not go in them woods, girlies - you might just find yourself WoooOOOooo!” 2 Whether you ’ re talking to your cat or issuing direction to your bandmates, dialogue choices feel more organic and spontaneous 3 Depending on your dialogue choices, you can grow closer to each individual girl – or further apart from them 4 You can t get more garage band than literally pitching up in your buddy s poster-plastered garage

Nora is a founding member of indie punk rock outfit Bloom & Rage (formerly The Spew) Her parents’ divorce has left her feeling like no-one ’ s priority

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Ready for an art attack?

Strangers in a strange land, Gustave demands only one thing of his foster sister, Maelle: “If death approaches, I want you to run – promise me.” After some back and forth, Maelle cuts through the tension with a laugh, “Oh please! You’re an old man – I can outrun you any day.” Wistful, Gustave remarks, “There was a time when 30 was young ” Maelle regards him with uncertainty, “Sure ”

1 I N T H E W I N D

Sandfall took a great deal of inspiration from French sci-fi novel La Horde Du Contrevent by Alain Damasio

2

Under the Paintress’ steady hand, time is only ever running out Every year she traces a number on her monolith, sentencing anyone of that age or older to erasure – they immediately scatter like dust in the wind This annual cruelty is known as the Gommage, and it motivates the land’s ever-dwindling elders to set out on a quest to kill the Paintress

Clair Obscur s producer François Meurisse tells us “It s worth learning French just to read that [book]

3

The perils and existential importance of the book characters quest really appeal to Guillaume Broche

Many have tried; many have failed – but when Gustave’s own love is lost to a stroke of the brush, he sets out not only to avenge her, but to ght for a blank-canvas future

Disaster strikes almost immediately Gustave is separated from half his comrades, including Maelle, cast adrift in a beautiful but dangerous world Our hands-o picks up in a forest of strange coral, amid weird sh swimming through the air – and next to the remains of another failed expedition

Gustave knew the expedition’s leader, Elodie, though not how her story had ended Monsters called Nevrons prowl nearby, and Gustave is ready to ing paint

BRUSH WITH DEATH

While exploring you can run up and bop baddies, but combat proper is a unique beast that takes place in a separate ‘active dimension’

Appearing at rst to be a ashy, turn-based system, battles enjoy a switch up via QTEs and timingbased mechanics

up with a devastating counter Play your cards right and you can make out like a bandit with a no-damage bonus amounting to 20 per cent more experience Now the real question is: are you going to paint yourself into legend by going for the fabled No Damage Run?

Nevron dealt with, Gustave and Lune continue to search for Maelle Rather than explore an open world outside battle, you’ll instead make trails through tightly designed areas For example, we don’t just see characters stumbling upon the untold stories of expeditions past, we notice that plenty of secrets besides are hidden slightly o the beaten path In squeezing through a narrow hall of coral or even grappling to a better vantage point, you may well nd less-than-friendly faces waiting for you, but often you can turn tail to avoid a dustup – or look for a better opportunity to get the drop on them

But in his desperate search for Maelle, Gustave casts caution to the wind Lune tries to hold him back when they spy a strange door nestled among the coral, but Gustave is a man for whom time is only ever running out Approaching the threshold, their bickering is cut short when a bizarre force pulls them both in

A grand, impossible mansion greets them on the other side, its halls haunted by a strange shade

“BATTLES ENJOY A SWITCH UP VIA QTES AND TIMING-BASED MECHANICS.”

Whether you’re lunging forward to make sword strikes, taking aim before letting loose a hail of bullets, or hurling handfuls of spells, striking true depends on how well you clear a series of timed button presses [It’s all a little Shadow Hearts, eh? – Jess]

The developer bills this as a ‘reactive turn-based RPG,’ as you’ll need to keep your nger on the button for evasive manoeuvres when foes go on the attack

As the Nevron readies its claws, Gustave and mage Lune have to think fast, either dodging in real time with e or parrying with u The latter option requires a bit more nesse to pull o , but also o ers the opportunity to snatch back mana points or even follow

As Gustave and Lune carefully pick their way forward, taking care not to let that shadow fall upon them, they happen across another guest at the mansion This ame-haired young woman slowly turns to ask them, “ Are you real?”

The authenticity of the signature remains to be ascertained – but we can’t tear our eyes away from this canvas

I M P R E S S I O N S

Sharp wits are absolutely essential here

Rhy thmic mechanic s enliven the fl ashy, turn-based fights, keeping you on your toes as you move bet ween of fensive and defensive ac tion En garde!

4 Turn-based tropes are switched up with QTE attacks and rhythmic real-time dodging 5 The members of Expedition 33 have their whole lives ahead of them – that s if if they can stop the Paintress

6 Every member of the party enjoys a unique arsenal, from bullets and blades to super-powered prostheses and even sorcery

1 Every time Lune casts a spell, an elemental ‘Stain is left behind, building up over time to produce a variety of battle effects 2 Piercing the heart of this gorgeous Belle-Époque-inspired world is a brutal thorn - the Gommage This yearly ordeal turned Gustave’s beloved into dust 3 Though separated from the expedition, Maelle is an accomplished fencer who can hold her own

“NEKKI IS DEVELOPING A GAME THAT IS AN ODE TO MOVIES LIKE HARD BOILED.”

Packing style, Redline can even use spray cans to graffiti guards visors

Spine

Looking to equal gun-fu classics

Few movie fans remember sciencection actioner Equilibrium – in part because it’s best watched intoxicated Starring hristian Bale right before he donned Batman’s cowl, it’s ultimately not a good ick It is, however, something of a cultural landmark, leaving behind the idea of an elite police force trained in ‘gunkata’, where handguns join swords in close-quarters combat

Gun-fu existed for decades before this mediocre Hollywood action movie, emerging in Hong Kong action lms such as A Better Tomorrow These ‘heroic bloodshed’ movies were pioneered by John Woo and his favourite leading man Chow Yun-fat As gaming a cionados, we naturally think about these over-thetop, highly choreographed, melodramatic movies way too much, so it’s delightful to know we’re not the only ones: the team at Nekki have spent the last few years developing a game that is an ode to movies like Hard Boiled

HOLD, STRANGLE

Spine takes place in a dystopian European city You play as anarchic heroine Redline, who, aided by combat AI Spine, is trying to navigate an underworld conspiracy to save her brother, all while unravelling a plot put in place by the city’s totalitarian regime

When you watch in-game footage from Spine the rst thing you’ll notice is that this is a melee game through and through Much like the movies that inspire it, ranged combat is for enemies only, and Redline is much more comfortable getting up close and personal with her foes, landing a few kicks before capping a dazed henchman in the head It’s a ow that mimics the likes of the Batman: Arkham games and Marvel’s Spider-Man (in fact, the devs explicitly nod to the latter when talking with us) You dodge and parry attacks with the face buttons, and when you take one goon down you smoothly pirouette over to the next one

The biggest di erence between Spine and its peers is that Nekki has focussed on developing a cinematic camera system While the third-person action of Batman and Spider-Man uses a zoomed-out camera to give you the lay of the land, Spine’s camera is pushed in much tighter, bringing you closer to the lead character This allows the intricately choreographed moves to take centre stage, which is a good thing considering the team has motioncaptured almost every move in the game using stunt performers

Where the team have faced the greatest challenge is in nding a way to allow this camera to move dynamically on its own, not only to zoom in on a cool kill, but to pivot to the next enemy coming at you, or to pan so you can see someone lining up a shot It seems

PRE VIEW

like a huge undertaking, especially for a team that, until now, have primarily worked on the mobile ghting game series Shadow Fight

That said, the team haven’t taken this project on lightly, and when we talked with them at Gamescom there was a genuine excitement to everything they said They enthused about the movies that inspired them, and when we pointed out that a shot in the trailer is reminiscent of the iconic hallway ght in Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, they explained how di cult recreating that side-on view was, but how they had to feature it the game But the team’s inspirations aren’t limited to lms; when we mentioned John Woo’s Stranglehold (a canonical videogame sequel to Hard Boiled) they revealed that PS3 game’s slow-mo action was another in uence on Spine What’s more, the team seemed aware of the pitfalls of that game (which is the closest thing we’ve had to date to a ‘heroic bloodshed’ videogame)

REMEMBER THAT

The team also spoke about how the futuristic landscape of Don’t Nod’s oft-forgotten Remember Me inspired Spine’s world design and how Nekki

wanted to push past the generic dystopian futuristic setting and show some parts of a future Earth that we might not have seen much in media before A big part of creating this world has been working on the game’s soundscape, and while it was hard to hear much of it on a busy show oor, the Nekki team members at the show were excited to talk about their musical partners After the game’s unveiling last year they were put in contact with the composer of the John Wick soundtrack, Le Castle Vania, who enjoyed the vibe of the game so much he composed the song for the game’s latest trailer

Our Gamescom demo was hands-o , so it was very hard to get a sense of whether Spine genuinely feels as good to play as it is to look at However, the team behind it are clearly passionate and care deeply not just about the material they are referencing but also about creating something unique in the gaming space

I M P R E S S I O N S

While the hands-of f demo was limited in scope, the way Nekki is approaching Spine is as exciting as it is promising. If it feel s half as good as it looks, we ll be in for a real treat

1 Remember kid: duck, dive, dodge, duck and dodge oh, and also remember to shoot 2 Trust us when we say that this is going to hurt 3 Hey Redline, who does your hair? We need their number 4 Our hero s name is Redline No prizes for guessing the name of her sentient spine augmentation

Cyberpunk

Shiva’s office bears a striking resemblance to PLAY Towers

‘All

Atomfall

Cumbria as you are

Like many of us caught in the hype of the Fallout TV series, the surprise announcement of Rebellion’s Atomfall –which looks like Fallout set in the UK –was a highlight of Summer Game Fest 2024. After going hands-on with it, we can say Atomfall is more of its own thing than a mere clone, which is certainly no bad thing.

“RUFFIANS BASH OUR HE ADS IN WITH CRICKET BATS.”

Set ve years after the real-life 195 Windscale nuclear disaster in Cumbria and taking place in an alternate reality when part of Britain is a wasteland (no, not modern-day England, although we’d forgive you for thinking that), Atomfall is a survival game at its core Our hands-on involves playing a 30-minute chunk of the game twice, and we’ll come clean immediately – we get our arses kicked constantly While Fallout can be brutal at times, Atomfall wanders into Stalker territory with how oppressive the ‘quarantine zone’ can be

FALLING FOR YOU

In terms of design, you’re thrown into a large open area full of detail, and from there you’re able to nd a number of missions and secrets A central objective pushes us forwards, but despite having only a brief time with the game we decide to play it the way we would normally, scouring our little area of the Lake District for secrets rather than pushing ahead Throughout our travels we nd friendly NPCs, gangs of ru ans (who promptly bash our heads in with cricket bats, the absolute bounders), and even a few secret areas leading to entirely new questlines

The north tends to get the short end of the stick when it comes to games set in the UK, but Atomfall’s version of Cumbria nails it; we mercifully don’t hear a single London accent in our hour with the game (something the developers told us was a hard rule when casting) Plus, there are even actual Scottish voice actors and not Americans making rough attempts to sound Scottish (here’s to you, Hi-Fi Rush) Expect ‘ay-up’s in abundance when you play it

I M P R E S S I O N S

So far we re impressed with this nor thern post-apocalypse Just don’t go in expec ting Fallout.

The next six months, mapped out

at once I saw a crowd, a host of violent shotgun kills, as Wordsworth never put it

.45 Parabellum Bloodhound

Cyberpunk action like little else

Parasite Eve in a cyberpunk post-apocalyptic PS1-inspired RPG with a washed-up mercenary named Reila? Okay, we’re in While the new game from the team behind Va-11 Hall-A is at least tonally reminiscent of that dystopian booze-em-’up about waifus, technology, and anti-capitalistic ideals (it was one of our favourites on PS Vita), make no mistake: this is a notable departure from that in other ways

The jump to 3D is a departure from the developer’s visual novels The game utilises a real-time menudriven battle system akin to that in the aforementioned Parasite Eve or Chrono Trigger You can move while the action bar is loading to avoid attacks and position yourself, before pausing time to bring up the menu and in ict your assault It makes battles feel less like frantic action a airs, and more tactical and considered –something that seeps into every aspect of the game

DESPERATE TIMES

xed-angle environments that make us suspect they’re hiding something Older platforms’ technical limitations made this approach a necessity; here its deliberate use is unnerving, as though the truth is hidden just from view

“FIXED-ANGLE ENVIRONMENTS MAKE US SUSPECT THE Y’RE HIDING SOMETHING.”

While much of the story remains under wraps and there’s little to be extracted from the disparate segments we play during our brief demo, beyond the team’s cryptic tease asking whether the true enemies are truly those pointing a gun towards us in the heat of battle, the promise of a psychological thriller that sees us grappling with shadowy forces both beyond our grasp and inside our own heads to make sense of a rotten world is certainly enticing

Although the team’s most obvious inspirations are venerable, to put it mildly, this is more than a retread of beloved classics Within a claustrophobic, overrun cityscape inspired by South America, we weave through

I M P R E S S I O N S

Wearing its inspirations of PS1-era RPGs and Killer7 firmly on its sleeve, it evolves these ideas into a fascinating RPG

Buildings tower over you from fixed camera angles, merely a shadow within this overwhelming world

FORMAT TBC / ETA TBC / PUB SUKEBAN GAMES / DEV SUKEBAN GAMES / PLAYERS 1 1 Grungy environments

PRE VIEW

“KLIFF’S ABLE TO USE SPECTACUL AR SPECIAL MOVES LIKE A THRUSTING STINGER.”

“You fight like a dairy farmer ”

Crimson Desert

Devils may cr y, and so might you after this

Sometimes a game trailer has a peculiar ‘tech demo’ avour that makes us suspect either a) the game it’s promoting might never be released or b) if by some miracle the game does hit the shelves, there’s no way it’ll manage to live up to the hype. rimson Desert was announced in 2020, and what we’ve seen of it certainly impresses us, but also makes us wonder what it would feel like in the hands

After all, Crimson Desert is in many ways a departure for developer Pearl Abyss The creator of Black Desert Online is certainly capable when it comes to combat, but Crimson Desert is both its rst open world single-player RPG, and its rst move away from Black Desert A lot is promised: intense combat, dungeon crawling, farming, and even the power to lead rats about like the Pied Piper And so when we’re given an hour hands-on with the game, we wonder how we’ll get a taste of it all

FANTASY ZONE

times brutal, though dealing with hordes of enemies can prove a bit much for hirsute Viking protagonist Kli , especially while we’re in the process of getting used to controlling him It quickly becomes clear that Kli ’s moveset is impressive When he swings his hefty sword it feels nice and heavy, and he’s able to riposte and parry and use more spectacular special moves like a thrusting stinger and a sweeping slash to cut into groups of enemies He’s able to channel his inner Steve Austin, too – with a ri on the Stunner, Kli can pepper combos with up-close-andpersonal melee strikes

REED THE ROOM

Some boss encounters can only be taken on at specific times of the in-game day so plan accordingly

The answer is, we don’t – not yet Our hands-on demo is purely focussed on the combat, speci cally as it relates to bashing bosses Though that’s no bad way to begin We begin with a tutorial, and the combat is best described as ‘Dragon’s Dogma, but nobody told any of the enemies that ’ It’s tactile and at

From there we get to go one-on-one with a few of the game’s bosses The Reed Devil, who’s set up his home in the really rather beautifullooking reed elds, is rst up Like the enemies we tackled in the so-called tutorial, he’s not afraid to kick our arse He’s incredibly agile, moving seemingly as e ortlessly as the long grass blowing in the wind Kli is good to control, but his slow moves feel at odds with our foe’s much slicker abilities, this particular enemy reminding us of Vergil from Devil May Cry with his quick dashes, slashes, projectiles, and huge AOE attacks

At this point in our demo, hampered by Kli ’s relative lack of pace, we begin to worry a little about game balance

This might not be the rst time we’ve wished a game would let us play as Dante, but it can be frustrating to feel

as though your moves as a player are a mismatch with the challenges you’re presented with The best we can manage is parrying and praying

That said, we fare better when we take on the Staglord, a hulking brute wearing a deer’s head on his own, clad in tough metal armour and a crimson cape, who confronts us within a snowy ruin

Because he’s a swordsman much like ourself, our speeds are more comparable and so we’re able to dig into the combat a little deeper The action clicks better here; while still brutally di cult, the ght at least feels honest – to the point we feel bad using healing items during it as we are so caught up in the atmosphere of the duel

From swordsman to beast: next we clash with the fearsome White Horn, a kind of yeti referred to as ‘the spirit of the mountain’ The ght’s very di erently paced ght due our opponent’s animal nature; it ails its elongated arms around without a care and pounds the ground with its sts This wildness makes it rough to read, yet engrossing to contend with It may launch us into a mountainside, picking up the combo mid-air like a Tekken ghter, obliterating 80 of our health as it does so, but that just makes us feel all

the more exhilarated when we nally take the creature down

This snowy clash is also a great showcase for Crimson Desert’s impressive visuals It takes place on a mountaintop with a massive blizzard underway; every time White Horn smashes its sts on the ground, snow is blasted into the air, while the wind rages wildly around us Meanwhile, the white fur of the beast slowly turns pink as we slash away at it – it’s safe to say the game’s an absolute looker (although in ghts like that with the Reed Devil, the particle e ects are maybe a bit too much, with fragments of cut grass ying everywhere)

Given the developer has such lofty ambitions, trying to boil Crimson Desert down to a few combat encounters feels like a strange way to demo it But we leave it feeling extremely impressed with what we’ve seen, although it de nitely feels like it needs a bit more work before it will truly shine

I M P R E S S I O N S

Crimson Deser t has a lot going for it, but the combat balance may be a turn-of f for players less invested in hardcore ac tion games It s yet to prove it fully lives up to its devs’ massive open-world ambitions

1 Crimson Desert is ambitious, and we ’ re impressed with everything we ’ ve seen so far 2 Everything’s up for a scrap, even the big rock crab 3 The world of Crimson Desert looks vast and beautiful – despite all the murder 4 You ll need to bring your A-game if you want to survive the Staglord

Part action adventure, part horror, part mystery, Slitterhead is shaping up to be an interesting tale

Slitterhead

Guts and gore and ghosties, oh, my!

hey don’t make them like this any more. That is our prevailing impression after playing through the opening minutes of Slitterhead in our hands-on demo. Slitterhead is a messy, clunky beast of a game, while also dripping with style and hosting a banging soundtrack. What else can you expect from the minds behind Silent Hill?

TIn an era when every triple-A title is polished to production-line perfection, it’s refreshing to play a game with an edge, even if that does mean dealing with some jank

SILENT CHILLS

Playing Slitterhead feels like being transported back to the PS3 era, when interesting, experimental titles like Tokyo Jungle and Deadly Premonition were far more common Even the concept is bonkers; you play as a spirit seeking to find its memories within the city of Kowlong, and to do so, you possess people (and even a dog) It’s like a twisted, hastily-stitched together combination of Driver: San Francisco and The Nomad Soul, while winking towards Siren’s sightjacking Possession is just as much about in-the-moment utility as it is a theme Need to get onto a roof for

“PL AYING SLIT TERHE AD TAKES US BACK TO THE PS3 ER A.”

some reason? Quick jumps between hosts will get you there About to be defeated in combat? Don’t worry, another disposable human is right around the corner, ready to join in the brawl You’ll need them, too, as combat can get brutal, requiring careful parrying Or, if you possess several people in quick succession, you can coerce a group of unsuspecting members of the public to gang up on the demonic slitterheads

The old-school innovative spirit doesn’t get in the way of the visuals – the art direction here is absolutely gorgeous And with Silent Hill’s Akira Yamaoka on the mix for sound and music design, Slitterhead promises to make quite an impact

I M P R E S S I O N S Won’t appeal to ever yone, but if you ’ re a sicko like us and are looking for a unique sur vival horror adventure, don’t miss it

1 These freaky enemies are scary, but taking them on in combat is expected

The neon-lit city of Kowlong is a lovely setting for some absolutely grim body horror

Fantasian Neo Dimension

The Final Fantasy creator’s RPG

Hironobu Sakaguchi’s list of credits is impressive: he directed the original Final Fantasy through to the fifth, supervised Front Mission and Chrono Trigger, produced Final Fantasy VII, IX, and Tactics, and executive produced VIII, X, XI, and Kingdom Hearts However, since establishing Mistwalker Studios in 2004 he has struggled to escape the shadow of the series he helped to create

Now Sakaguchi and Mistwalker are releasing a game for consoles for the first time since 2011 Fantasian was released on iOS three years ago – however, it’s been trapped behind an Apple Arcade subscription It was notable for its Dimengeon system which allowed you to store enemies in a pocket dimension until you wanted to fight them, at which point you could face swarms of enemies These encounters were made more manageable by the positional turn-based combat, which allowed you to control the arc of attacks so you could strike numerous enemies at once And it has a killer art style – the developers 3D-scanned miniatures of the environment and placed digital characters on top of them Characters would walk over to wherever you dropped a pin with your finger on the touchscreen

BIG SCREEN

In short: it was designed to be played on the go While that doesn’t exactly impair the experience on console, in our demo the game does still feel like a mobile port Rather than using the pin system, for example, we control Leo directly, but we have to wrangle things when the fixed camera changes and he shoots off at 90 degrees Happily, there’s time for this to improve

I M P R E S S I O N S

Frustr ating control s currently belie a stunning RPG to the point we are hoping they are completely reworked before release. It still feel s like a mobile game.

Cairn

Reaching the peak of virtual climbing

ame developers have certainly discovered climbing in recent years, their approaches varying from frustratingly realistic in Death Stranding to a more meditative style in last year’s Jusant. It’s fun to see all the di erent interpretations – interpretations that French studio

GThe Game Bakers thinks it can still improve on. In Cairn, climbing is so strenuous you can almost feel it, but with that hard work comes immense satisfaction.

We can only watch helplessly as protagonist Aava tumbles down the mountain face, landing in a heap of limbs made gangly by game physics We were doing so well, right until we weren’t In Cairn, much like in real climbing, your success depends not on keeping an eye on a depleting stamina bar and following ledges painted in helpful yellow, but on your character’s breathing and the strain on her muscles As Aava, you can attempt to climb any mountain, anchoring yourself to anywhere on its surface, but choosing the right starting point is key Does it have enough ledges to rest your feet on?

Do you have to stretch a lot of nd the ne t ledge? Can your hands nd purchase? our supply of pitons is limited, a fall often fatal

DON’T LOOK DOWN

Where other climbing games assign each limb a button, forcing you to move your arms and legs in turn, all you need in Cairn is one button and the analogue stick The game automatically chooses which limb Aava uses

ne t, but you need to place it carefully or you’ll end up stretching comically. On small climbs, the system feels intuitive enough; later it takes us several attempts to strike the di cult balance between nding a good position for each limb and not taking too long, causing Aava to run out of stamina. After all this, reaching the top and being greeted by a magni cent view gives us the best feeling Cairn’s environments, designed by French comic artist Mathieu Bablet, look incredible But soon it’s onto the ne t mountain to overcome a fresh challenge Aava also has to eat, stay t, and stay healthy, three things we hardly manage without scaling multiple cli s a day ou have to keep an eye on your needs, your resources, and even deal with adverse weather conditions to make it through this adventure in one piece

t completely free of frustr ations, as small as they are It’s all the more motivating for it.

“ YOU CAN ATTEMPT TO CLIMB ANY MOUNTAIN, ANCHORING YOURSELF TO ANYWHERE ON ITS SURFACE.”

Cairn s mountains are handmade to ensure a combination of fun climbing and natural beauty

Two Point Museum

11:30 AM Entering the town of Two Point

here’s a subsection of games that felt speci cally iconic to Brits growing up, ones we all played, such as Hogs Of War and FIFA 98 (we’re claiming Crash Bandicoot too, sorry) Another was Theme Hospital for PC, which was loaded with silly British humour. While the comedy manager genre was in decline for a while, Two Point Hospital arrived in 2018 to de b it, spawning a whole series in the process.

TTwo Point Campus took the silliness back to school, but didn’t quite reach Hospital’s heights You might expect Two Point’s next release to be another easy followup – Two Point Park, say, or Two Point Zoo – but Two Point Museum is, fortunately, stepping further out of the comfort zone, and thoroughly deserves to be on display

You’re a lucky sod who’s inherited the job of curator at Two Point Museum, the previous incumbent having disappeared under mysterious circumstances (that just so happened to be during a run of low attendance and stolen artefacts) You walk into the museum, and it rivals the Smithsonian with its grand total of three whole items The goal here is more commercially minded than its predecessors: you’ve got to make the museum popular and start making serious cash, Tycoon-style

IT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM!

To do this, you need to nd some more curiosities, which introduces us to the latest mechanic: expeditions In a

vein strangely similar to Metal Gear

Solid V, you can send your employees out into the wilds to nd new pieces to show o to the public Though as this is Two Point, things aren’t that simple; your sta can return with all manner of ailments to impede your museum’s progress (including mucky shoes, the horror!) Unlike in the other titles, where you can place whatever you want wherever with very little issue, Two Point Museum’s focus is on creating exhibits For example, you’ll throw together a room full of dinosaur fossils, while another may focus on sea life This adds a nice extra layer of strategy

Of course, the highlight is the dry sense of humour; there’s an in-game radio station with a terri cally deadpan host giving you the rundown of how your museum is doing While we don’t see it in the slice we go hands-on with, the trailers promise a Two Point amount of chaos with the likes of yetis, cavemen, and – worst of all – children, who are able to run about and cause havoc

I

Two Point may have taken us by surprise with its choice of setting, but by managing to evoke the soul of Theme Park with an entirely new fl avour, we re already sold on this exhibit

1 You ll be able to craft your own exhibits, with the proper theming of course 2 Be sure to keep the gift shop well stocked with souvenirs You need to get that cash flowing 3 Expeditions to find new items are a new feature for the Two Point series 4 Open the door!

You’ll be dealing with your fiercest foes yet: children who don’t respect ‘ no touching’ signs

Greedfall II: The Dying World

The rst Greedfall, released in 2019, was a smaller studio’s attempt to make a Dragon Age-style RPG epic, with a 17th-century setting, fewer of the familiar high fantasy elements, and, intriguingly, a story that cast you as a coloniser trying to mediate between di erent factions This time around you play as a captured native, brought to a new island against their will

1 B A L D U R ’ S G A T E W A Y

3

2 S L E E P E R H I T

This sequel is hardly a surprise; the first Greedfall sold a healthy two million copies globally

3

As well as meeting new factions on the Old Continent, several from the first game are set to reappear

make it di cult to tell who’s doing what and, chie y, who we are currently controlling and when everyone has used their action Greedfall II o ers a variety of familiar classes, from healer to o ensive magician to tank, but we spend more of our time with the demo putting points into a skill tree than actually playing it

Set three years before the events of the rst game, this change in protagonist and perspective removes a major point of contention You’re a native of Teer Fradee, the rst game’s setting, looking for a way o the island of Gacane, the all-new location where much of this one takes place Once again, your character is yours to customise at the beginning But no matter what, you’re referred to as ‘vriden gerr’, Rootless, since you were taken in the middle of the ritual that should have made you a fully- edged member of Teer Fradee society

You need to navigate between factions as part of your mission, simply because a lot of things are going wrong in Gacane (hence the subtitle) A particular strength of the rst game was the way the factions were used to show the di erent facets of society, and how in some cases clashes are inevitable Decisions, both in what you do and in conversation, have always been at the heart of Greedfall, so expect to be embroiled once again in politics, barter with pirates, and rescue innocent bystanders

AND MY AXE?

Tackling a confrontation st- rst wasn’t always the best decision in Greedfall – the developers wanted you to explore other options by using skills like stealth, lockpicking, or diplomacy, depending on your character build

“ YOUR DECISIONS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT THE HEART OF GREEDFALL.”

It was fun to use its classic RPG system, but it was also, er, fun to avoid its increasingly repetitive combat

The biggest change in Greedfall II is, without a doubt, its new ghting system, which has moved from real-time button mashing to a system directly inspired by Dragon Age: Origins, in which you plan out turns in a pause menu before letting rip In our time with it, this system unfortunately turns out to be rather confusing and not yet well suited to controllers Our companions struggle to execute our commands, and camera bugs

Like its predecessor, Greedfall II looks ambitious, but it’s currently in incredibly rough shape What we see of Gacane, which is fully open world, is beautiful, but we run into a lot of bugs we recognise from the rst game Of course, it’s still early days, but what we get to see is hardly revolutionary, either: we follow a band of bandits using our ‘tracking vision’ before confronting them and deciding whether we want to ght or help them However, our attempt to help them by nding their lost cargo is interrupted when the game crashes Following the success of the rst game, Greedfall is supposed to be 60 hours long (the rst game clocked in at about 45 hours for full completion), and Gacane looks several times bigger than Teer Fradee But if developer Spiders can’t iron out some familiar issues, Greedfall’s potential to be a rival to Dragon Age will once again be squandered We’re still really glad to see that smaller studios want to make Bioware-style RPGs – at least we’ll get more than one every six to ten years Greedfall was fun, if awed, but we’d expect a sequel to be an overall improvement on that game rather than the same but larger

I M P R E S S I O N S Greedfall II looks and feel s a lot like the first game, for better and worse Additionally, the new combat system will take some getting used to, and the game needs more refinement to truly excite us

4 The new location is designed with love and rich in detail, but what we ve seen looks, much like the original Greedfall, also very brown 5 Charisma, every DM s favourite skill check, can make or break many conversations in this game

6 This shot hints that the huge boss monsters from the first game might reappear F A C T R I C K

Inspired by Baldur s Gate

s early access phase on PC Spiders is taking the same route for Greedfall II

1 You will once again be able to romance your teammates – the right actions will be just as important as the right answers 2 The battle pause screen is informative, but overwhelming for the newly initiated 3 It’ll surely be easier once you know each skill symbol by heart

METAL GE AR SOLID DELTA: SNAKE E ATER

We base-jump towards our first taste of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, talking with series producer Noriaki Okamura about our hands-on with the remade Virtuous Mission section of the classic stealther

he Cold War, the 1960s. An operative for the United States’ newly established FOX (Force Operation X) is sent behind enemy lines to extract a scientist whose experiments are tipping the balance of power, and with it the world towards nuclear armageddon Naked Snake’s alone in Soviet territory on this mission – and he looks suspiciously like Solid Snake, who starred in the rst Metal Gear Solid many years later.

METAL GE AR SOLID DELTA: SNAKE E

The familiar grizzled visage has never looked so detailed Snake’s back!

METAL GE AR SOLID DELTA: SNAKE E ATER

What do you mean, ‘Who’s Solid Snake?’ You have got to be kidding But for series producer Noriaki Okamura, it’s a very real concern –and one that informs the developers’ approach to remaking Metal Gear

Solid 3: Snake Eater

BOSS’ WILL

“One of the things that really sparked us to do the remake in general is because we realised that a lot of the newer, younger generation of gamers aren’t familiar with the Metal Gear series any more,” says Okamura “So it was basically our mission, our duty, to kind of continue making sure that the series lives on for future generations ” After all, we leave behind much more than just DNA, as Solid Snake would say – but again, who is Solid Snake?

Okamura says the developers have made a deliberate choice to eschew the

numbered titles used for the original series, and are focussing on rebuilding the third game as, chronologically, it’s the rst “That’s where the original story started,” he says Okamura acknowledges that remaking this game could lead to confusion “with the number ‘three ’” That’s why you’ll see ‘Delta’ on the box instead (It’s the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, but in scienti c equations it represents a change ) Additionally, owing to its nature as a prequel, the original release toys with players’ expectations For newcomers, though, Okamura still feels it makes sense to begin here, for “those who never played the series before or don’t know the lore ”

The approach being taken with Delta is to let as much of the original MGS3 speak for itself as possible So, nods to the earlier games remain intact, right

Series producer Noriaki Okamura has worked on many Metal Gear titles

down to the o -kilter choice to allow MGS2 fans a glimpse of Raiden’s face as Naked Snake inexplicably drops into Russia with a face mask of the silver-haired wonderboy (optional, of course) You’ll even still be able to collect Kerotan frog dolls by shooting them in the face so they ribbit, nding

And when we say Kerotan appear in the same spots, we really mean it Delta might be a remake, but the team are taking a vastly di erent approach to those working on Konami’s other forthcoming remake, Silent Hill 2 [Which we went hands-on with in PLAY #44! – ed] In terms of content,

“OUR W HOLE GOA L W HEN W E’RE M A K ING THIS REM A K E IS TO M A KE SURE TH AT IT STILL FEEL S LIK E THE GA ME TH AT YOU PL AY ED 20 Y E A RS AGO.”

them in all the places you’d expect to see them Newly added is a rubber duck variant of Kerotan – these also seem to appear in every map, making potentially twice the number of secrets to nd (“There’s a few things that we’re de nitely sprinkling in!” Okamura notes)

there’s very little we can truly say about Delta’s take on the Virtuous Mission compared to the original MGS3 From enemy patrol routes to map geometry, and even the locations of the (now super-quick) load screens, the games are nearly identical to one another Except, of course, Delta’s

1 Crawl through the mud and Snake will look appropriately mucky 2 Stealth is still an important part of the game 3 Knock out or tranquilise guards so they won’t raise the alarm – it was possible to complete the original game without killing. 4 It’s the same game as before, but smoother and better-looking

graphics have been supercharged, and the control scheme entirely rethought It’s de nitely not a reimagined, fully open world or anything like that

That’s very much by design “Our whole goal when we’re making this remake is to make sure that it still feels like the game that you played, you know, 20 years ago, but without making it feel like an old game,” says Okamura For fans who’ve played MGS3 so many times they can basically play it from memory, “The best outcome for this is that they still feel nostalgic,” he tells us

ECHO DELTA

You’ll notice that the voice performances aren’t just similar to the originals, they’re exactly the same (although cleaned up nicely) At rst, Okamura tells us, “We thought